A Safe Place: Ways in Which Nature, Play and Creativity Can Help Children Cope with Stress and Crisis--Establishing the Kindergarten as a Safe Haven where Children Can Develop Resiliency

Berger, Ronen; Lahad, Mooli

Early Child Development and Care, v180 n7 p889-900 Aug 2010

This article presents a way in which the innovative Nature Therapy conceptual framework coupled with creative therapeutic methods can help children develop resilience and support their coping with uncertainty and stress. It refers to the Safe Place programme that took place in 110 Israeli kindergartens, helping over 6000 children after the Second Lebanese War. It is based Ayalon and Lahad's 2000 BASIC PH integrative model of "resiliency" highlighting the importance of the kindergarten in such development and challenging the tendency to use the kindergarten as a deductive, preparatory course for school and schooling only. The article integrates theory with examples from practice which can help readers to incorporate them into their own work. (Contains 2 notes.)